Clover Moore slammed for City of Sydney renewable energy move
The City of Sydney has inked a $60 million deal to buy wind and solar power over the next decade but the moved as been slammed by the peak ratepayers body which says it will only drive bills up.
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The City of Sydney’s $60 million green energy deal has been slammed by the Australian Taxpayers Alliance, which says it’s unlikely to deliver value for ratepayers and could make electricity more expensive.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore signed the deal with Melbourne-based energy retailer Flow Power yesterday, which will mean the council’s electricity usage from 2020 will be sourced from wind and solar.
The renewable electricity will power all City of Sydney properties from July 1, including pools, libraries, playing fields, depots and council buildings.
The electricity will be sourced from the 270 megawatt (MW) Sapphire Wind Farm near Glenn Innes, the 120MW Bomen Solar Farm near Wagga Wagga, and a not-for profit community-owned solar scheme near Nowra.
Ms Moore said the 10 year contract was worth $60 million and would save the council about $500,000 per year in costs — or $5 million over the life of the deal.
“By 2020 all our pools, libraries, playing fields, depots and council buildings, including the historic Sydney Town Hall, will be powered using only wind and solar,” she said.
“Our agreement will generate jobs in regional NSW, supporting the state’s drought-stricken regional areas, while cutting harmful emissions.
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Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance director of policy Satya Marar said the deal could drive up power prices for businesses and homes in the city.
“With our coal and gas-fired generators increasingly pushed into premature retirement, this will only worsen electricity price volatility which has punished our homes and businesses while damaging the economy and our international competitiveness,” he said.
“It isn’t the City of Sydney’s responsibility to artificially prop up intermittent and unreliable electricity sources for the benefit of wealthy energy companies who already make a killing off federal and state government subsidies for renewables to the tune of $2.8 billion a year.”
Mr Marar called on the federal government to lift its ban on nuclear power to help provide an “affordable and reliable” solution to our energy problems.
“In the meantime, council should focus on its core responsibility to provide cost-effective and reliable public services like roads, rates and rubbish,” Mr Marar said.
Flow Power CEO Matthew van der Linden said sourcing the power from three separate wind and solar farms would help beef-up the security of the energy supply during times of light wind and sun.
“They (City of Sydney) have control over the electricity, they will be implementing energy management strategies to minimise the shortfall during that period of time,” he said.
“Sometimes the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine … the City of Sydney have taken a holistic approach to their electricity consumption,” Mr van der Linden said.
“If just 20 per cent of the market followed the City’s lead, it would drive investment in 11 gigawatt of new renewable generation — that’s double the current pipeline of renewable projects.”
The City of Sydney already has solar panels on more than 30 of its buildings, Tesla batteries at its Alexandra Canal Depot, and is replacing 6500 City-owned streetlights with LEDs to save $800,000 per year in electricity costs.